During our 16th webinar, Sigrid De Bie, HR Director at CAW Antwerp, shared how the organization worked together with Starfish Consultancy to evolve from disconnected Excel files to a clear HR data roadmap. This journey not only brought more structure to their approach to data, but also increased confidence across the organization that HR data can genuinely contribute to better decision-making and policy development.

When Sigrid joined CAW Antwerp, one thing immediately stood out: there was a lot of data, but very little overview. Excel files were circulating everywhere, manual interventions were common, and there was limited visibility into potential error margins.

The support needed to take that first step came from two directions: a governing body that expected more answers and a CEO who believed in the potential of HR analytics. That support provided the confidence needed to start working on a concrete action plan.

The ultimate goal of the project was to create a roadmap: an action plan that not only outlined the next steps, but also prioritized those actions and provided an estimate of the time and resources required to implement them.

This roadmap was not created overnight. Instead, it was built through three distinct phases:

• Exploratory phase: In this first phase, CAW determined where HR wanted to go over the coming years, aligning its ambitions with the organization’s strategic multi-year plan. For example, the HR theme of recruitment was translated into concrete questions such as: How long does it take to fill a vacancy? and Through which channels do we find candidates? For development, CAW Antwerp focused on growth areas and learning pathways, while for wellbeing the emphasis was placed on absenteeism and its duration.
  → The result: a clear framework that linked HR priorities to available data sources.

• Assessment phase: This phase focused on the quality and usability of the available data sources. Not every data source proved suitable for supporting policy decisions. For example, the analysis showed that their recruitment platform provided too little data to properly analyze recruitment inflow. This raised an important question: should they start with a priority area where data quality was still weak, or focus first on a topic supported by stronger data sources?
  → These discussions made it clear that not everything can be tackled at once and that a balance is always needed between strategic ambition and current data quality.

• Vision-setting phase: All decisions ultimately came together in the roadmap. The roadmap brought both clarity and realism, and provided a strong argument when engaging with the board and executive leadership about the pace of progress. There would not be fully developed dashboards within a matter of months, but there was a multi-year plan in place to gradually improve data quality and allow priorities to guide the path towards those dashboards.

CAW Antwerp deliberately gave HR the lead role, but not without involving Finance, IT, and senior management. Through an internal steering committee, the results of each phase were discussed collectively. This made it clear that the initiative was not just an HR project, but an organization-wide effort.

This collaboration generated enthusiasm, but also delivered an important lesson: keep expectations realistic. Looking back, one piece of advice Sigrid would give herself is to avoid naming the project “HR Dashboard,” as this created the expectation that dashboards would be available within a few months.

Although CAW Antwerp is not yet ready to roll out dashboards on a broad scale, the impact of the roadmap is already becoming tangible. The accompanying report often confirmed what Sigrid and her colleagues at CAW Antwerp had intuitively sensed, while at the same time revealing error margins and manual processes. Small actions, such as adding metadata to Excel files (who created this file, when was it created, and for whom?), already increased awareness around data management and usage.

Above all, the project brought hope. Hope that even in a non-profit environment, where resources are often more limited, HR analytics can be both feasible and valuable.

The story of CAW Antwerp shows that HR analytics does not have to be a luxury, even in a non-profit environment. With a realistic approach, broad stakeholder support, and a clear roadmap, any organization can take the step from scattered Excel files to insights that support better decision-making and policy development.

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